In 2023, Footprint published the report Is regenerative the future of farming? in partnership with Nestlé Professional UK&I, in which we explored the growing interest in regenerative agriculture.
With evidence pointing to the broken nature of our current food system, we concluded that the journey towards regenerative agriculture is one that must be taken, but it must be done so carefully amid debate over definitions, concerns over greenwashing and fears that a farmer-led movement risks being co-opted to fit a corporate agenda. One year on, we re-examine the subject of regenerative agriculture but through a different lens – the role of regenerative agriculture in the community.
For some practitioners, the regenerative philosophy is as much about being rooted in place as in the soil, with farms forming part of a mutually beneficial ecosystem along with local people, institutions and businesses that delivers economic, social and environmental value to a community.
This theory has yet to be rigorously tested by scientific research and the notion that farms can be the glue that binds a community together is challenged by some as rose-tinted in an age of globalised food supply chains and commodity crop production.
This report does not seek to provide quantitative evidence of community benefit at scale. Instead, through conversations with farmers and local stakeholders, we explore the relationships that have developed between farms and their communities, the mutual benefits that can and have been unlocked when a farm adopts a regenerative mindset, and the challenges farmers and those that form part of their ecosystem face in unlocking these benefits.
We examine too the role that businesses further down the supply chain have to play in helping unlock the benefits of community-based regenerative agriculture through their relationships with farmers and their procurement practices. And we detail examples of where the commercial and community benefits of regenerative farming have successfully coalesced to create lasting social impact.
You can download the report here
